Member Review by Jazqas

What can I say? We dined there on a Wednesday night, thus there were few other tables to take the wait staff's attention and we got generally good service, (my grandmother knowing some japanese helped us greatly i suspect).
The entrees we had, both raw and cooked, were tender and delicious. As for mains, we were seated at a BBQ table, with a gas grill in the centre of the table, and were given no instructions on the usage of this apparatus. It was only after we started cooking things the wrong way that the staff took over the cooking (no explanations, and they wouldn't let us near it for the rest of the night). The meat used was fatty and generally fell below what I expected from such an upmarket establishment.
As usual for Japanese restaurants, I was dreading the coming of the bill. I was unpleasantly surprised, even after i had prepared myself for a large number.
If you are or you know a rich Japanese businessman, you can enjoy the karaoke rooms or the bar upstairs after a nice meal. As for me, I'll be steering clear of this restaurant.

Member Review by Gary

A courageous attempt at something more than the usual Melbourne Japanese, Shoya has some tempting and delicious dishes... we had a delicious duck appetiser and some superb sushi - but service that was out of synch with significant prices and accompanying expectations. Dishes arrived out of sequence without warning and we didn't get told about the 'not availables' until they were almost due.

The dining room staff were literally running in the dining room at times, and seemed unable to advise on choices. Although they were very busy, this just didn't seem to go with the attempt at something 'up-market.' We were disappointed and would not return.